


In Sync

by verbaeghe



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boy Band, Edmonton Oilers, Idiots in Love, M/M, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, POV Multiple, Sharing Clothes, Sharing a Bed, Slater is an idiot diva and I love it, Tampa Bay Lightning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-10 12:42:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12912159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verbaeghe/pseuds/verbaeghe
Summary: “I thought you guys wanted to make it.”“Yeah, as a band. This band,” Alex gestures to them. “I don’t care how hot this guy is,we’rethe ones that have come this far.”“Yeah, and you haven’t gone anywhere new in about two years.” Gabe crosses his arms. “You guys hired me to manage for a reason. I know how to succeed, and this is the best way to do that.” He taps his foot. “Or would you rather keepalmostselling out Jannus Landing?”





	1. Performance Anxiety

**Author's Note:**

  * For [darkone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkone/gifts).



> Happy Holidays! ♥
> 
> I made up all of these song titles, and hopefully they don't match the titles of any real songs.

Slater knows that AABS is mostly-struggling. They’re a quartet boy band that had two pseudo-hits a couple years ago and nothing since.

They tour religiously, mostly playing in small venues, like The Ritz Ybor and Jannus Landing, and they sell those small places well enough but their career is just sort of...in limbo.

Right now Slater is spending his limbo lounging on his bed and perusing some fanfiction about the band on his tablet. He can’t help but snort when he sees who the most popular pairing is.

“Hey, did you guys know that our fans apparently ship Alex with me the most?” Slater asks.

“With you and not me, his actual boyfriend?” Andrej’s frown is so deep that it makes Slater want to laugh.

“That isn’t who I ship you with,” Braydon interjects, arriving from the back of the bus. Slater cocks his head, and is just debating asking Braydon for more details when their manager, Gabe, bounds up into the bus.

“Okay, listen up, you guys.” Gabe says without even pausing to greet them.

Slater looks over at him, though no one else really gives Gabe their undivided attention. He continues anyway, not at all bothered by their disinterest. “What this band needs is someone who can really belt out a song. You need a Voice.”

“We all have voices,” Alex says from the spot where he’s draped over Andrej.

“But none of you have a Voice.”

“Braydon has a Voice,” Andrej objects, but Gabe continues like he didn’t say anything.

“So, I’ve talked to Adam Larsson.”

Alex sits up. “No shit, Adam Larsson? From Lars and Klef?”

“The very same.” Gabe smiles. “And he’s agreed to join the group, so long as Oscar joins too.”

“Holy shit, he’s _so_ hot,” Alex says. Andrej frowns at him.

Slater is concerned with other things at the moment. “We can’t be a six person boy band!”

“You most certainly can. And you will.”

“Wait, what’s in it for them?” Braydon asks. Slater shifts his attention to see Braydon lounging by one of the big windows. The sun is kind of making his hair glow. It’s all sorts of soft and quite the contrast to his onstage persona.

Slater may be a bit distracted and misses what Gabe says. Luckily, Alex is there to yell about it.

“What do you _mean_ they get a better percentage than us?!”

“Calm down, it doesn’t come out of your cut. It comes off mine.” Gabe tuts at them. “I thought you guys wanted to make it.”

“Yeah, as a band. _This_ band,” Alex gestures to them. “I don’t care how hot Adam Larsson is, we are the ones that have come this far.”

“Yeah, and you haven’t gone anywhere new in about two years.” Gabe crosses his arms. “You guys hired me to manage for a reason. I know how to succeed, and this is the best way to do that.” He taps his foot. “Or would you rather keep _almost_ selling out Jannus Landing?”

“What about our name? Do we have to change it?” Alex’s crazy caterpillar eyebrows push together and Slater wants to laugh. “How would we even change it?”

“Hey, we could be AAABOS!” Slater suggests. “Or maybe ABOSAA! Who needs abs when you can have ah-bose-aah?!”

“You’re ridiculous,” Braydon says, shaking his head.

“I’m just trying to help,” Slater sticks out his tongue. He notices that Braydon’s cheeks are sort of pink and is about to suggest that maybe he move out of the sun and over to the cooler side of the bus, but Gabe is speaking. _Again_.

“No, stop. Don’t worry about it, we don’t have to change your name.” Gabe makes some vague gesture that’s half dismissal and half shrug. “It would be too much of a hassle with all the copyrights anyway.”

“Wait.” Slater scrambles to the edge of the bed he’s sitting on, because he’s just realized, “Is he going to be the front man? Is he... _the Hot One_ now? Because _fuck no_ . That’s me.” He starts ticking the guys off on his fingers. “Alex is the Boy Next Door, Andrej is the Shy One, Braydon is the Bad Boy, and _I am the Hot One_!”

“You can be the Cute One,” Gabe grins at him, and it looks more than a little evil, to be honest.

“And have to play off of Braydon? No thanks,” Slater crosses his arms and sulks.

“What’s wrong with playing off of me?” Braydon asks.

“Nothing is wrong with it,” Andrej says. “Playing off you would be awesome.”

“Great, then _you_ canbe the cute one,” Slater snaps.

“I can’t, I’m the Shy One,” Andrej shoots back snottily.

“Well, maybe you should work on _that_ , then,” Slater grabs for his earbuds. It takes him three tries to get them in right because he’s so pissed off at...at the _world._

He snatches his tablet back up and keys it open. He is done with this conversation and doesn’t care what anyone else has to say on the subject right now. He needs to calm down, so he’s just going to read one of these stupid fanfics.

And if he picks an AU where he and Braydon are hockey players, well, no one needs to know that.

 

//

 

Andrej walks into the studio where they practice their routines with a cup of coffee in his hand. It's the day that they are going to officially meet Lars and Klef as their co-band-mates. He’d woken up early and gone for a walk, trying to clear his mind, which kept playing Alex saying ‘he’s hot’ on a loop for him.

His mind is sort of a dick.

“Hey, where’s my coffee?” Alex asks. Andrej ignores him, taking a seat over by Braydon.

“Um?” Alex blinks, confused. Like he has any right to be. Andrej continues ignoring him.

“How are you?” Braydon asks quietly. Andrej shrugs.

“Been better.”

“I know what you mean,” Braydon’s eyes go all far away and dreamy in the direction where Slater is sitting, looking at that tablet that he never seems to put down.

“Why haven’t you told him yet?” Andrej asks. “It’s been years, Braydon. _Years_.”

“You heard what he said the other day. He doesn’t want anything to do with me.” Braydon frowns.

“Come on, you know that was just him being pissy about having competition.”

“Sort of like you’re pissy about competition?” Braydon counters, eyebrows raised.

“No, that’s different. Alex kept talking about how hot the guy is like I wasn’t even there.” Andrej scrunches his face, shrugs. “Slater just wants to _be_ hottest.”

“Jesus, he is.” Braydon replies, mostly to himself.

“So _tell_ him.”

“Just drop it,” Braydon says, while Slater sits up across the room.

“Hey, why didn't anyone tell me that this Lars guy is a ginger?” He drops his tablet on the table in front of him.

“So what does that matter?” Alex cocks his head.

“So. Gingers can’t be hot! That’s what!”

Andrej hears a little wounded noise escape Braydon and, honestly, he doesn’t even have a counter argument for that one beyond ‘Slater is a fucking moron’, and that wouldn’t help, so.

Luckily, Slater is saved from himself when the door opens and Gabe walks in with the new guys.

“Are you guys ready to get started?” Gabe asks.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us?” Alex asks, his stupid angry eyebrows looking more so than usual.

“Haven’t you guys met before?” Gabe asks, even though Andrej is pretty sure that he knows better.

“Yeah, boy bands and hipster indie artists always travel in the same circles,” Slater rolls his eyes.

“We aren’t hipsters,” Adam objects.

“Whatever,” Slater replies. He stands and stretches. “I’m Slater and that’s Alex, Andrej, and Braydon.” He bares his teeth more than he smiles. “We’re AABS.”

“Isn’t that the wrong order?” Oscar asks.

“What?” Slater blinks. He sort of resembles an owl and Andrej has to drop his head to hide a smile.

“If you’re AABS, you should have listed yourself last.” He grins. “Maybe you are SAAB instead?”

“Maybe you can take your AASB back out the door?” Slater suggests in that innocent tone that means he’s about to tear someone’s eyes out.

“Okay, I think that’s enough introductions,” Andrej jumps up when the door opens to reveal their choreographer, Yanni. The last thing they need is _him_ pissed off at the lot of them. “Yanni, hi!”

“Why are you pretending to be so cheerful this early?” Yanni scrunches his face in distaste. “Now, line up.” He gives three short claps and the original members of AABS line up quickly and quietly.

“Is he...kidding?” Adam asks Gabe.

“No, I am not kidding. Why would I be kidding?” He frowns. “Do you not have routines to learn? Yes? Line. Up.”

“Just wherever?” Oscar looks uncertain.

“Line up!” Yanni snaps. Adam and Oscar hurry to obey. They fall in next to Andrej, who offers what he hopes is a welcoming smile as Yanni barks out more orders.

“We’ll start with the steps to ‘Soul of Me’; those are easy enough.” He instructs Adam and Oscar to watch the steps until they feel like they can join in before he counts them off.

Andrej is concentrating on the music and the steps, even though he knows them by heart, so he doesn’t see Adam or Oscar at all and he's surprised when Yanni starts calling for them to stop dancing.

“Have you ever even danced before?” he asks, venom dripping off of every word.

“Well, we-” Oscar starts, but he’s quickly cut off.

“No, not you.” He points at Adam. “You.”

“Well, no, I mean...why would I need to?”

“Why would you... _why would you need to_?!” Yanni throws up his hands and turns to Gabe while Slater snickers in the background. “How about you call me again when it won’t be a total waste of my time?”

“Will do. Sorry, Yanni.”

Yanni stomps out of the room, cursing under his breath in French the whole way.

“Well, that could have gone worse,” Alex says pleasantly after the door slams.

“It could?” Adam’s brown is furrowed. Alex beams at him in response.

“Oh, yeah. They first time I tried to dance, the cursing was out loud. In English. And straight to me.” Alex puts an arm around Adam, and Andrej knows that he’s just trying to cheer the guy up (it isn’t like Andrej isn’t _right there_ ), but he still can’t help the way the action makes his heart clinch.

“Jesus, Alex is a fucking idiot,” Andrej hears Braydon mutter.

“So is Slater, though,” Andrej shoots back, because he’s still protective of the asshole.

“I know,” Braydon agrees with a sigh.

 

//

 

Oscar is sitting on his and Adam’s new bed, watching his boyfriend unpack. They’d spent a lot of time over the past few weeks talking about their future and whether they should give up as a duo and join AABS. Oscar still isn’t totally convinced that it’s a good idea, and he doesn’t think that Adam is one hundred percent sure either, especially after that shitty first meeting.

The thing is, Oscar likes sitting behind Adam in intimate settings, picking at an acoustic guitar while Adam’s beautiful voice croons out song after song.

They don’t need to be famous, they don’t, but they _do_ need to pay their bills, and that was really the biggest factor in their decision. But still…

“Are you totally _sure_ we should do this?”

“Oscar, we’ve been over this so many times.” Adam is annoyed with him, but can Oscar really be blamed for wanting make certain that they aren’t ruining their careers with this boy band thing?

“But you hate boy bands.”

“I don’t hate boy bands, Oscar.”

“You hate dancing!”

“No, Oscar. _You_ hate dancing.”  

“No, I-” Adam shoots him a look. “Fine, I do sort of hate it, but I did fine with it. You’re the one who got yelled at, and-”

“That’s just how choreographers are. I’ll work on the dancing, it’ll be fine.”

“And I think that the Slater one hates you.” Oscar frowns. “What sort of name is Slater anyway?”

“Maybe he wonders what sort of name Oscar is,” Adam laughs, sitting down to pull Oscar into his lap. “This _is_ a good decision and will work out, okay?”

“If you say so,” Oscar replies even though he still isn’t convinced.

“And, if it doesn’t, at least we kept our travel bus?”

“I am sort of glad that we still have our own space,” Oscar nods.

“Sort of?” And Adam is laughing again.

“Okay,” Oscar pushes him onto his back. He shifts around to straddle Adam, leans in close. “I’m _really_ glad that we kept our bus,” he admits before leaning in to kiss his boyfriend.

~

They show up a little later than they mean to for practice a couple of days later (it isn’t Oscar’s fault that Adam looks _so good_ when he’s sleep rumpled in the morning). They’re hurrying down the hall when the sounds of a conversation already ongoing in the practice hall stops them short.

“But why do they think that they’re too good to travel with us?” Slater is asking.

“I’m not sure there’s room on our bus for them, though,” Braydon says.

“There’s an extra bunk, and they don’t need two, from what I can tell.”

“Uh, no. I’m using that one right now,” Andrej cuts in. Oscar wonders who he’s usually with and why he isn’t right now.

Look at him, already getting caught up in band politics.

“Maybe they’re just more comfortable staying to themselves for now,” Alex says. There’s some catch in his voice. Oscar ponders over it while also thinking about how he probably likes Alex best. “I mean, we all know one another and all they know about us is that disaster of a practice the other day.”

Yep, his favorite.

“Well, they sure aren't going to ‘get to know us’ if they don’t want to be around us,” Slater is frowning when Oscar pops his head in. Everyone else is looking in his direction.

“Maybe we don’t want you to have to listen to us fuck every night,” Adam says, striding right past him and into the room. The other four whip around and Oscar actually laughs out loud at their various stages of ‘deer caught in the headlights’.

Hell, Andrej’s cheeks are even pink. It’s sort of cute.

Alex recovers from their surprise first. “Maybe we’d be too busy to hear you two.”

“Or maybe we wouldn’t be,” Andrej mutters.

Ah, there’s Oscar’s answer.

“Okay, as fun as this all is, we need to work on dancing and shit before Yanni comes and kills us all because you guys can’t dance.” Braydon stands. “So, why don’t we break off into groups. Oscar can work with Slater and Alex and Adam, you can work with Andrej and me. Yeah?”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Oscar agrees, mostly because it’s keeping Adam and Slater apart. He follows Slater and Alex across the room and starts learning the steps. It’s actually easier that he expects it to be, and he’s learned most of the basic steps in just under an hour.

It’s sort of surprising, but he’ll take it.

The three of them are taking a break and drinking some water when he hears Adam’s Complaining Voice float across the room.

“This dance is terrible. I hate it...and this song? ‘Midnight Circus’? Who wrote this shit?”

Oscar has a very bad feeling when Slater straightens next to him.

“I wrote that song,” Slater says. Oscar bites the inside of his mouth, prays that this is a time that Adam backs down.

“Well, it’s total shit.”

God. Dammit. Oscar shouldn’t have planted the seed of Slater’s possible dislike into Adam’s head.

“Hey, fuck you man! Just because it isn’t some fucking Indie Song doesn’t mean you get to shit all over it!”

Braydon jumps and crosses the room, places his hands on Slater’s shoulders. His voice is so soothing when he speaks to Slater, “It’s okay.” Braydon shakes him. “Hey, look at me.”

“He can’t just say that,” Slater’s attention shifts to Braydon. “That song means a lot to me, and he took my spot, but he doesn’t get to do this too. It’s just...just...”

“No, I know.” Braydon cups Slater’s face. “Come on, just breathe...that’s right.” Braydon give him the smallest smile when he breathes in deeply. “Out through the mouth...see, feels better already, right?” Slater nods as he releases the breath. Braydon’s pulls his hands from Slater’s face, immediately grabbing one of his hands. “Come on, let’s go for a walk and cool off, okay?”

“They’re together then?” Oscar asks Alex while they watch Braydon lead Slater out of the room.

“Uh, no,” Alex shakes his head.

“No?” Oscar blinks. “Really?”

“Yep, really.” Alex replies. Oscar opens his mouth to ask another question, but Alex is already talking, “Why don’t we see if we can teach your boy these steps?”

He's definitely changing the subject, but Oscar can’t really argue with that suggestion.

 

//

 

Slater is looking for eyeliner when someone knocks at the door.

“Come in,” he calls over his shoulder before going back to hie search.

“Hey,” Alex says from behind him.

“What’s up?” Slater asks, not pausing, because he needs to help Braydon with his eyeliner and it has to be that one brand that doesn’t run when he sweats under the lights.

“Do you know why Andrej is mad at me?” Slater stops, turns.

“Is now really the time for this?” Slater frowns. “An hour before our Super Mall Debut as the New and Improved AABS?”

“It’s the first chance I’ve had where we aren’t all together and shit,” Alex whines.

“Sorry, I don’t know why Andrej is mad at you. Maybe you could try asking him.” Slater turns back to the huge bucket of stage makeup sitting on his vanity. “I’m sorry, I’m a little...I need to find--”

“Braydon’s eyeliner?” Alex asks, and Slater can just _hear_ the smirk in his voice.

“Do you know where it is?”

“Sorry, I don’t. Maybe you could try asking Braydon.” Alex snaps.

“Being mad at me isn’t going to make me magically know what’s up with Andrej,” Slater says. Relief surges through him when his fingers finally close around the eyeliner.

“I know. Sorry. I’ll talk to him after the show.”

“Good boy,” Slater turns and grins. “Because this has been dragging on for too long.” Alex snorts. “What?”

“Nothing, go do Braydon's eyeliner. I’ll see you in a few.”

“Ooookay,” Slater says to Alex’s retreating backside before heading the opposite way, down towards Braydon’s room. He taps the door with his fingers before just heading in.

Braydon is looking at something on his phone. He looks sad, for some reason. “Hey, what’s up?” Slater asks. Braydon startles before looking up at him. “Sorry,” he says, smirking.

“No. Don’t worry.” Braydon sets his phone down, turns towards Slater. “It isn’t like I didn’t know you were coming.” His smile is soft.

“That’s right!” Slater holds the pencil up. “We have to make you a bad boy, right?”

“And we all know that means eyeliner,” Braydon chuckles.

“Well, you won’t commit fully to the Bad Boy Life and get a tattoo, so we make do,” Slater bites his bottom lip, leans in. He’s just starting to draw under the lashes when Braydon speaks.

“I’m thinking about leaving the group when my contract is up.”

“What?!” Slater jumps, accidentally dragging a dark line across Braydon’s cheekbone.

“Way to go, genius,” he says, smiling, reaching for a makeup sheet.

“You can’t just drop that information on me all nonchalantly like it’s nothing!” Slater snatches the sheet from Braydon, scrubs at his face. “Why would you even consider something like that?”

“I saw an internet poll the other day. I’m the least popular member, behind even the new guys.” Braydon frowns. “The most common comment about me is that I’m too old to still be doing this, and maybe I am.”

“But...you’re a good dancer and our best singer. The songs you write are amazing, like, ‘I Know He Doesn't Care’? That song is beautiful. It’s our best slow song!”

Braydon pales, Slater is about to ask him if he’s okay, but Braydon’s talking before he can even open his mouth, “Slater. I’m always in the back of the group on stage and I’ve never had a solo in any song. Not even our manager knows I can sing.” Braydon shakes his head. “I don’t have to be around to write songs; no one would miss me.”

“Andrej would miss you.”

Braydon sags, sounds dejected when he says, “Andrej has Alex. He’ll be fine.”

“But they’re fighting.”

“No, Alex is an idiot and needs to apologize. They’ll be good as soon as he does.”

“Oh. For what?”

“It is so perfectly you to not know,” Braydon’s teasing him, but he isn’t sure about what. Which, that’s the point, he guesses.

He’s smiling again now, but it’s sad, and Slater has no idea what he’s done wrong here. “Braydon, just...don’t be rash, okay? Think about this long and hard before you do it.”

“When am I ever rash in my decisions? That’s _your_ M.O.” He taps Slater on the nose.

“Yeah, well, I can’t help it.”

“I know. It’s part of your charm,” Braydon replies with a sigh. “And I haven’t decided yet, it’s just something I’m thinking about.”

“Okay, I guess,” Slater pouts for a second because he isn’t sure what else he could say to make a difference.

“Five minutes until pregame!” Gabe yells, pounding on the door. They both jump.

“I should, uh, I should finish this up.”

“Oh, yeah. Thanks,” Braydon tips forward and Slater goes back to tracing under his eyes.

His hands aren’t shaking. They _are not_ , because there isn’t anything for him to be upset about.

 

//

 

Oscar is watching Adam pace back and forth in their small dressing room. It’s making him sort of dizzy, to be honest. “Do you think that maybe you could stop that?”

“I’m just worried about my dancing,” Adam runs a hand through his hair, messing it up and undoing all the work that Oscar _just_ put in to get it under control.

“You know that worrying like this will only make it worse.” Oscar walks over, places his hands on Adam’s elbows. “We have spent weeks working on the choreography; Yanni hardly even yelled at you during the last couple of practices.”

“Small miracles, eh?” Adam laughs. He’s blushing, which looks amazing, but now is not the time.

“We’ve got this, okay?” Oscar pulls Adam him, presses a kiss to his lips.

“Yeah, okay,” Adam relents, obviously not convinced, but there isn’t anymore time to talk about it because Gabe knocks on the door.

“Come on, boys. It’s time to perform.” Gabe smiles at them, but if it’s supposed to be comforting, well, it isn’t.

~

So, the performance wasn’t as bad as Adam had feared.

No, it was worse.

Oscar can't say that, even though they both know it, because Adam looks like he’s about to have a meltdown, so Oscar tries for comforting. “At least you didn’t forget any of the lyrics?”

“I missed my cue so bad that I flailed and knocked down a whole row of speakers, Oscar. I think that lyrics are the least of our problems.”

“The domino effect as they went down _was_ pretty cool to watch, though,” Alex interjects, not even trying to hide his laughter.

“You could not,” Oscar snaps.

“I’m just trying to lighten the mood. Jeez.”

“Well, it isn’t helping, so shut up!”

“Don’t you tell him to shut up!” Andrej sounds angry, but Oscar doesn’t care.

“Oh, _now_ I’m allowed to talk?”

“Maybe everyone needs to take a breath and calm down?” Braydon suggests, flexing his hands in that way that is supposed to calm people down but actually just pisses everyone off more.

“You stay out of it!” Alex and Andrej shout at him together.

“I think we should break up,” Slater says quietly. Everyone turns and looks at him with wide eyes.

“Well too bad, because you can’t,” They shift again, this time towards Gabe.

“Why not? We’re failures and,” Slater indicates vaguely in his and Adam’s direction, “ _this_ obviously isn’t working out.”

“Because we’re booked for New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.”

“We can cancel.” Slater looks petulant, but it isn’t like Oscar disagrees with him, necessarily. Maybe not the break up part, but there is no way that they’ll be ready for a New Year's Eve performance.

“Well, if you have the two million it would take to break the contract, sure.”

“Damn, Gabe.” Alex frowns. “You really have that much faith in...all of.. _._?” He gestures vaguely around the room.

“You think I would waste my time managing a band that I think won’t make it?” Gabe shakes his head, the look on his face is definitely annoyance.

“Jeesh. I’m sorry I asked,” Alex mutters.

“You guys obviously need more work, so I’m going to think on this for a little while and get back to you.” He pauses, grips his chin and takes them in for a second. Oscar is feeling a little weird, to be honest. Finally, he continues, “Why don’t you guys just head to the hotel for the night and I’ll catch up with you tomorrow.”

Braydon is the first to leave, though he does take the time to say goodbye to him and Adam. Slater follows after him pretty closely without even glancing their way.

Oscar watches Alex and Andrej bicker quietly between themselves before they head out together, muttering a farewell.

And then it’s just him and Adam. Who is still sulking quietly.

“Anyone can have something like that happen,” Oscar tries.

Adam barks a humorless laugh. “No they can’t.”

“Okay, well, maybe not anyone. But it isn’t unheard of.”

“Name me one other person it happened to,” Adam crosses his arms.

“That isn’t the point, Adam.” Oscar shifts and puts his arms around him. “And so what if you can’t dance. We can have you wander with a mic since you’ll be doing most of the singing. It will be fine.”

“I guess.” Adam still sounds bummed, so it’s time to change tactics.

“I think we should head to the hotel, because I believe there’s something there that will cheer you up.”

“Yeah? What’s that?” Adam asks.

“The bed,” Oscar replies with a smirk.

“You know,” Adam perks up a bit. “I _do_ think that would cheer me up.”

“I thought it might,” Oscar smiles, offering Adam his hand.


	2. Cabin Fever

Andrej is sitting in his room, thinking about...everything. The trash performance and the group argument afterward. Then the talk he tried to have with Alex, who is still just being obtuse about everything.

It had ended with him stomping off and getting a separate room. Again.

His thoughts shift away from Alex and to Slater and what he’d said. He pulls out his phone, shooting Slater a text asking if he’s free to talk.

Slater replies that he’s caught up in something, but he’ll be done in a few and asks what room Andrej is in.

Andrej snorts. “Right, caught up in something,” he mutters to himself while he taps out a reply.

He fires up his PS4 because he knows he’ll be waiting a while for Braydon and Slater to finish this go of Dancing Around Feelings.

~

“So, what’s up?” Slater asks before Andrej even has the door all the way open.

“Hello to you too,” Andrej says, pulling the door the rest of the way. He watches Slater makes himself comfortable on the couch before he asks, “Do you really want to break the band up?”

Slater scrunches his face up like he just sucked on a lemon, but both of their phones are going off before he can reply.

“Well, guess we better go down to the restaurant and see what Gabe wants,” Slater says when he looks up from his phone.

“Are we going to talk about what you said on the way?”

“Nope,” Slater replies, standing and stretching. “Let’s go.”

~

Andrej frowns when Slater slides in next to Braydon, which means the only seat open at the table is the one next to Alex. It isn’t like _he_ wanted to sit next to Braydon, but jeez. He sighs and pulls out the seat.

“Hey, how are you?” Alex tries like they aren’t playing the world’s longest game of ‘No, you apologize first’.

As if he has anything to apologize for. Andrej glares at Alex, hoping that’s answer enough.

“That isn’t an answer,” Alex hisses, and Andrej is this close to causing a scene, but he’s saved when Gabe starts talking.

“Okay, boys. Here’s the thing. You are closer to ‘a band of boys’ than you are a ‘boy band’, so that is the bit we really need to fix here.”

“How are we going to do that?” Braydon asks.

“You guys are spending the twenty-third, twenty-fourth, and Christmas at a ski lodge.”

“What about-” Andrej stops when Gabe holds up a hand.

“It’s a gig. You’ll be singing acoustic sets at dinner for the guests.”

“I don’t want to sing Christmas music for three days straight,” Alex looks a little disgusted at the thought.

“You’ll be singing for three hours each night and you guys are supposed to mix in a few of your own songs in each hour.” Gabe smiles. “And you’ll be allowed to use the facility like everyone else when you aren’t performing at dinner.”

“That actually sounds pretty sweet,” Slater shift in his seat. “Do we all get our own room?”

“You guys get your own cabin. Three rooms.” Gabe pauses and Andrej has a bad feeling about this. “Each room only has one bed though.”

“That isn’t a problem,” Oscar leans back with a smug smile that Andrej doesn’t like at all.

“That isn’t a problem at all,” Alex says as he pats Andrej’s hand. Andrej narrows his eyes, because is Alex serious?

Andrej sees Braydon opens his mouth to say something, but Gabe is talking again, “Great, I’ll make sure you guys are all set up as soon as possible.”

They all sit there under a blanket of awkward silence after Gabe leaves them at the table until the tension is broken by Adam, of all people.

“At least it’s acoustic and I won’t be kicking over any speakers, right?”

Andrej snorts out a laugh despite himself.

 

//

 

“This is nice,” Oscar says, looking around the common area.

“Yeah, it’s okay,” Slater pushes past him. “Dibs on the room on the sunset side.” Slater doesn’t wait for any replies, just makes his way into the bedroom with his suitcases.

“That was rude,” Adam mutters.

“We, uh, we always let Slater pick his room first,” Andrej quickly explains, but it doesn’t sound like he’s being one hundred percent truthful.

Oscar shrugs. It isn’t like he cares what room he and Adam are in. “Adam and I will take the room that's on the sunrise side.”

“Are you sure?” Alex asks. “We don’t mind-”

“No, it’s fine, we’re early risers.” Adam explains for them.

“Of course you are,” Slater says, coming back into the room. “Why should we expect anything less?” His tone isn’t mean, and he’s laughing, but there’s still something about it that grates on Oscar.

“Slater, maybe we should go get some coffee, or something,” Braydon suggests.

“I don’t think I want coffee this late,” Slater frowns.

“Okay, how about hot chocolate.”

“Well,” Slater drags the word out like it’s about twenty syllables. Oscar might be considering mental murder. If he was capable of such a thing.

“We can get extra whipped cream and no one will say anything.”

Oscar has a pretty good idea what Braydon is up to, so he keeps his mouth shut and lets Braydon lure Slater away, not breathing until it’s a sigh of relief that Slater is gone.

“Exactly _how_ do you guys put up with him?” Adam asks Alex and Andrej.

“He wasn’t like this before.” Andrej shakes his head and screws up his face. It isn’t very attractive. “Well, he _was_ , but it wasn’t super bad like this.”

“Braydon is usually pretty good at keeping him in line,” Alex adds.

“Why aren’t they together?” Oscar crosses to the fridge, sees a twelve pack in there and pulls one out. “Anyone want?”

“No, thanks. That's not on the ‘approved food and drink’ list. Slater and Braydon are already cheating, we shouldn’t cheat too.” Andrej pauses. “And they’re idiots, that’s why.”

Oscar is about to say exactly what he thinks about an approved food and drink list when Adam laughs.

“They do seem to be dancing around one another.” He narrows his eyes. “Sort of like-”

“We’re going to go have a beer in our room, then. Talk to you later,” Oscar cuts in, ushering Adam from the room.

“What was that for?” Adam asks while Oscar snaps the door closed.

“Whatever fight they’re having isn’t any of our business,” Oscar replies.

“We’re a band, so it sort of is?” Adam grins, and Oscar knows that he’s doing be because knows the effect that it has. “You have to stop thinking of us as separate groups, babe.”

“But we-”

“We are part of this group now, and need to start acting like it.”

Oscar sighs. Adam is right, but that doesn’t make it any easier to think of them as a cohesive group. That’s sort of the point of this gig, after all. “Okay, I’ll try harder.”

“That’s my boy,” Adam says, twisting the top off of his beer and raising it. “To being one group.”

“Cheers,” Oscar agrees as he clinks the necks together. He takes a swig while pondering how exactly he can make himself feel like ‘one of the boys’.

 

//

 

Andrej thinks that the first set goes better than he expected. He sits there and harmonizes in the background with Braydon while Oscar strums a guitar and Alex, Slater, and Adam take turns on lead. It’s mostly holiday classics, but they get to mix in a couple of their own, too.

Andrej never knew that 'Do You Feel The Rhythm' would sound so good in acoustic. Braydon is a damn genius when it comes to writing songs.  

The guests applaud quietly after each song, and it’s a start, anyway.

He’s gathering his stuff after the set is finished when Alex walks up to him. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Andrej replies flatly. He doesn’t want to be rude in public, but also Alex still hasn’t apologized for being an ass.

“Are you really still mad at me? When we’re here in the beautiful place?” Alex slides closer when Andrej doesn’t reply. His voice has dropped when he says, “Maybe me and you can go and get some dinner together?”

“Ah, no. I already said I’d have dinner with Braydon, sorry.”

“What?” Alex blinks at him. “B-but…” His eyebrows tip together in a way that makes him look super pissed, but Andrej knows that he’s really just confused. “I thought that we would-”

“Hey, guys, what’s happening?” Braydon asks when he wanders over from his chair. Andrej feels bad that he’s about to waylay him, but only a little.

“Oh, hey, you’re ready!” Andrej ignores the confused look on Braydon’s face and turns to Alex. “Sorry, we have to go.” Andrej says. “Talk to you later!” He grabs Braydon by the arm and leads him out of the dining room before Alex can say anything else.

“So,” Braydon starts once they’re halfway to the cabin. “Still fighting then?” He sounds amused and Andrej is not here for that.

“Don’t you have pining to do?” he snaps.

Braydon looks wounded now and Andrej feels bad. “Right, well, use someone else rescue you next time then.”

“Braydon, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“You did. Whatever.” He frowns. “Just leave me out of your bullshit from now on, thanks.”

And just like that, Braydon turns and stomps off somewhere. Andrej debates going after him, but what would he even be able to say right now? He sighs and starts back towards the cabin.  

~

Alex is sitting on the couch when Andrej comes out of the shower. “Guess your plans weren't so important after all.”

“Not now, Alex. I’m tired.” Andrej crosses the room and pulls the blankets down.

“You gonna sleep naked with me, then?” Alex asks. Andrej looks up and sees him smirking.

“Oh,” Andrej says, mostly to himself before he crosses and slides into a pair of boxers. “ _Now_ I’m going to bed.”

“You can’t keep ignoring me like this, Andrej.”

“As soon as you stop being an ass and apologize I will stop,” Andrej snaps.

“W...what did I do?” Alex’s confusion is real, and that’s really the worst part of this whole thing.

“Maybe you should think about it some,” Andrej answers. He crawls into the bed, curling away from Alex and pulling the blanket up over his head.

Alex doesn’t say anything else even though he sits there for another hour before turning off the lights and climbing into his side of the bed. Andrej is ready to ignore him some more, but he doesn’t say anything, not even good night, and Andrej is _not_ pissed when Alex starts snoring softly after less than fifteen minutes.

 

//

 

All of his real band mates are already gone when Slater turns around to see who he can flee the scene with.

“Rude,” he mutters to himself. He looks back to Oscar and Adam. Adam opens his mouth to say something and Slater realizes that he isn’t ready to play nice. “Well, I’m beat, so I’m going to head back.” He fake stretches for effect. “See you guys in the morning!” He gives them an over dramatic wave and ducks out of the area.

He debates getting something to eat from the kitchen, but he’s actually done with pretty much everything at the moment and there’s food at the cabin, so he decides to actually do what he said he was going to do and go back there.

Unfortunately, he gets held up by a couple of fan girls right by the grand entrance who want pictures and autographs...and to know who he wants to kiss most out of his band mates.

“Braydon,” he replies without even thinking.

“What?” the girls visibly deflate.

“He’s the only other one in the band that’s single,” Slater says.

“But he’s so... _old_ ,” the one with blonde hair says.

“He isn’t old-”

“And he’s _ugly_ ,” the other girl adds.

“He definitely isn’t ugly,” Slater isn’t sure how this is even a thing. He’d thought that Braydon had been exaggerating when he talked about his lack of popularity, but this...Slater doesn’t even know.

“Really?” the girl cocks her head at him. “I just thought…” she shrugs. “You aren’t with anyone in the group?”

“Afraid not.” The girls are disappointed, which is annoying.

“Never been with any of them?”

“Nope.”

“Not even Alex?” Slater sighs. Alex isn’t even his type, all dark features and angry eyebrows. He’d been amused by the stories, but jeez.

Slater decides that he is pretty much done with these two girls and forces his Show Smile. “Anyway, ladies. It’s been nice talking with you, but I need to get going.”

They gush over him for about another minute before he can pull himself away. He hears them giggling over how hot he is before he’s even two feet away. Slater rolls his eyes and steps out into the cold night.

Slater pulls his scarf up over his nose because he wants to take his time and stroll along the sidewalk to take in the decorations. He hadn’t had time on the way down to the lodge earlier. He’s only gone a couple of feet when he notices Braydon walking along the treeline. He tugs his scarf back down.

“Braydon?” he calls out. Braydon stops and looks his direction. Slater is just starting to think he’s going to keep walking when he heads over. “Hey, what are you doing wandering around?” Slater asks when Braydon arrives.

“I could ask you the same thing,” he smiles down at Slater. The tip of his nose is red and it’s really cute.

Did Slater say cute? He meant, well, he doesn’t know, but not that. Something else.

“I was just walking back to the cabin.” He returns Braydon’s smile. “Which, you know, you should probably do yourself.”

“I guess it's getting late and is sort of cold out here,” he nudges Slater with his elbow. “Let’s go then.”

They don’t make conversation at first while they stroll down the sidewalk, but Slater keeps taking sidelong glances at Braydon. It isn’t because he wants to watch the Christmas lights illuminate him, no matter how nice that is, it’s that he’s trying to figure out what it could be that makes people look at him and see...well, whatever it is that they’re seeing that makes him so undesirable to them.

Slater is at a complete loss.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Braydon sounds amused, and oops, he’s busted.

“I’m not looking at you like anything.”

“Okay,” Braydon doesn’t press and Slater is relieved. No, not that. Grateful. Both? He doesn’t know and it’s annoying.

It’s Christmas Eve’s eve. He shouldn’t be spending this much time annoyed.

“Hey, look, we’re here,” Braydon says. Slater blinks his thoughts away.

“Dibs on the shower!” Slater yells, pulling the door open. Braydon’s laughter follows him into the cabin.

~

Slater looks up when the bathroom door opens, swallowing at the way the mist and light silhouettes Braydon. He’s already dressed, in sleeping pants and a white undershirt that stretches across his broad chest just so, and-

“Do I have toothpaste on my face?” Braydon’s teasing him, and he’s glad that Braydon is nice enough to not actually call him out on his weird behavior. Much.

“No, I...you’re letting all that humidity in here, that’s all.”

“Well, at least it’s warm,” Braydon replies with a small grin.

“True enough.” Slater replies. Braydon’s grin softens before he crosses the room and steps into the closet. “What are you doing?” Slater asks when Braydon comes out of the closet with a pile of blankets in his arms.

“Getting ready for bed?” Braydon furrows his eyebrows.

“Okay, but the bed is already made?” Slater thumbs over his shoulder.

“Yeah, but the couch isn’t,” Braydon answers.

“You really think I would make you sleep on the couch?” Slater asks. He's hurt that Braydon thinks that he is that selfish as a person...and then he’s sorta sad, because he can’t come up with a time that he’s ever shown himself as otherwise.

“No, Slater, I just thought that it would be better for me if I slept on the couch.”

“How could it possibly be good for you to sleep on the couch?! You’re six and a half feet tall!”

“Six-five and a half,” Braydon deadpans, and Slater laughs.

“Fine, but I don’t think that half inch will make it better for you, comfort-wise.”

“The couch is plenty long,” Braydon drops the blankets at one end.

“Braydon, just come sleep on the bed.” Slater doesn’t want to do it, but he _will_ pull out the puppy dog eyes if he has to, because Braydon can never say no to them.

“Slater…” Braydon trails off of whatever excuse he’d been about to give when Slater hops up and pulls down the covers of the bed. He crawls to the far side of the bed and turns, patting the empty space between him and Braydon.

“Come, sleep. I’m not going to have Gabe yelling at me when you’re all tired tomorrow because you didn’t get any rest.”

Slater can actually _see_ when Braydon relents. He comes over and slips between the sheets. His voice is so quiet when he speaks after settling, “I’ll try to not hoard the covers.”

“I’m not worried,” Slater turns off the lights before he flops down. He smiles over at Braydon. “Sweet dreams.”

“Good night, Slater.”

~

Slater becomes aware of things in steps as he wakes up. He’s comfortable. And warm. Arms are wrapped around him and his face is pressed into an amazing, broad chest. He feels slow breathing into his hair and realizes that Braydon's nose is nestled there.

He’s perfectly content laying there in the dimly-lit quiet of the early morning, can’t think of anywhere he’d rather be, and...shit. He’s in love.

No. This is bad. This is so, so bad, because Braydon wants to leave the group. Also, there’s no way Braydon cares about him back. He’d _know_.

Slater needs to get out of here. Take a walk, clear his head. Get some breakfast. That will help him get over this. He slowly wiggles out from under Braydon's arms, careful not to wake him. He’s missing the warmth of Braydon’s body as he slips into his robe, which is cold as fuck, and tiptoes from the room.

The front door won’t open. What the hell is wrong with...he isn’t trying to open it the wrong way, he checked, and...Slater looks out the window that’s right there, and great. Snowed in.

Slater throws himself down on a nearby couch and waits for everyone else to wake up, because his only other choice is returning to bed with Braydon, and that’s a no.

Of course, it _was_ really comfy in th-- No, definitely no.

 

//

 

Andrej wakes up to the dulcet tones of Slater arguing with someone in the other room. He doesn’t recognize the voice, so it must be one of the Swedes. Andrej groans and pushes himself out of bed.

“Mmm, where are you going? You’re warm, come back” Alex asks groggily. Andrej ignores him and steps out into the common room.

“-nd I just know that this is somehow your fault,” Adam yells. Oscar is holding his arm because he looks like he’s about two seconds away from hitting Slater.

“Oh, yeah, I sure do control the weather,” Slater shoots back, rolling his eyes. Andrej opens his mouth to say...something to help Oscar calm things down, but that’s when Braydon rushes into the room.

“What the hell is going on out here?” Adam whips towards him.

“ _Your boy_ has us all trapped here, somehow!”

“How can you even think that makes any sense?!” Slater cuts in. He looks over at Braydon. “We’re snowed in and somehow that’s _my_ fault.”

“My boy?” Adam’s words have caught up to Braydon, apparently.

“You are all so fucking ridiculous!” Adam shouts to the room at large.

“With all due respect, none of us are trying to blame Slater for the weather.” Andrej turns towards the sound out Alex’s voice. “And some of us were still trying to sleep, you know.”

“Yeah, well…” Adam trails off and just stomps off to his bedroom.

“I’m sorry, he hates feeling trapped, he doesn’t mean...I’m sorry,” Oscar rushes out before he follows after Adam.

“So, snowed in? That’s great,” Alex walks by Andrej and drops onto a couch. “Did anyone call the front desk yet?”

“No, I was waiting for you guys to wake up and then suddenly I was being screamed at by Crazypants McGee,” Slater throw himself down next to Alex.

“My boy?” Braydon repeats. It’s so quiet that only Andrej can hear it. He crosses and gives Braydon a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Am I so obvious that even the newbies know?” he whispers.

“No.” Braydon squints at him. “Well, I mean, it isn’t like it’s a one-way thing.” Braydon is very obviously confused by Andrej's words. 

“Are you guys talking about us?” Slater pops up on his knees and hangs over the back of the couch.

“No, we are not talking about you guys,” Andrej answers. He figures it’s technically the truth. Alex doesn’t look convinced, but he lets it drop, thank god. “Why don’t you call the front desk, since it was your idea?”

“Oh, right.” Alex walks over and hits zero. Then he doesn’t even get out all of his question before it’s a bunch of “Yeah” “Uh-huh” and other various verbal cues before he finally hangs up the phone. “They said they’re concentrating on the guests in the main lodge, and they’ll get to us ASAP.”

“Oh, that’s nice of them,” Andrej huffs an annoyed sigh. “At least we have food and stuff.”

“But we don’t really have any firewood in here,” Slater is eyeing the small pile of wood by the hearth.

“Well, we can dress warm and use a bunch of blankets at night. It will be fine.” Alex crosses to the fireplace and looks in. “And there’s still a bit of decent wood still in here. It will be fine.”

“Well but I’m...” Slater doesn’t finish his thought before he disappears into his bedroom, leaving the three of them looking at one another stupidly while they wait for him to return from whatever he’s doing (what else is new, though?).

He returns wearing a coat that is way too big for him. “There, that’s better.”

“That’s  _my_ coat,” Braydon says, and Andrej can hear the pain in his voice.

“I know,” Slater snuggles down into the couch, turns his face into the collar. “It’s my favorite.”

A quiet whine escaped Braydon and Andrej can’t blame him one bit. He decides that it’s time to distract Braydon...well, of them, really.

He suggests that they make breakfast, which is well-received.

 

//

 

“Do you know how crazy you sounded, accusing Slater of snowing us in?” Oscar asks once he closes the door to their bedroom. “And _I’m_ supposed to think of us as a unit?”

“You know how I panic at being trapped,” Adam frowns. “It isn’t an excuse though. I’ll apologize later.”

“Maybe you should apologize sooner rather than later?” Oscar offers Adam a smile.

“Perhaps.” Adam purses his lips. “But I’m not quite ready to go back out there yet. I was _just_ making an ass out of myself, you know.”

“I suppose we _could_ go back to bed and cuddle a bit,” Oscar offers with a slow smile.

“I like the way you think,” Adam says, pulling Oscar along.

~

The members of-- _no_ , the other members of their group are sitting around the table, mostly empty plates scattered around them, when Oscar and Adam emerge later.

Adam clears this throat, is a little sheepish when he says, “Um, sorry about earlier, I just get a little freaked out when I can’t leave.”

“A little, huh?” Slater smirks, but it’s soft. “Don’t worry about it, man.” He stands, picking up his plate. “Let me get out of your way so you can eat.”

“What would you like me to make for breakfast?” Oscar asks Adam.

“Oh, actually. We made some for you guys too. It’s in the oven, staying warm.” Slater continues picking up plates. It’s the first time that Oscar has seen him do anything to pitch in, and he is completely surprised, he isn’t going to lie.  

“Thanks?” Oscar doesn’t mean for it to come out as a question, but it does. Slater laughs.

“He’s actually a pretty good cook, when we can get him to do it,” Alex says.

“Yeah, but it was a group project.” Andrej smiles. “Well, it will be once you make your own toast.”

“That’s more than fair,” Adam crosses to the toaster, pops a few pieces of bread into it.

~

It’s starting to get dark and Oscar is getting more than just a bit cold. He glances around the room. Alex and Andrej are sitting next to one another but not touching while Slater, who is still wearing Braydon’s coat, is cuddled up next to Braydon, who looks like he’s in pain.

They’ve been hanging out mostly together all day, and it hasn’t been as bad as Oscar would have expected. Conversation is still coming and going, but still. Way better.

“Look what I found,” Adam walks in from the kitchen with a bag of popcorn and one of those pans with a long handle.

Slater sits up. “Oh, I love popcorn made in the fireplace.”

“Me too. It’s the best,” Adam grins...and then the damnedest thing happens. Slater hops up, and they start making popcorn in the fireplace. They’re laughing together and talking quietly and Oscar can’t even believe that _this_ is the thing that has made them stop trying to rip out one another’s throat.

“Can you get a bowl, Bray?” Slater calls over his shoulder.

“Sure thing.”

It smells amazing when Slater dumps the fresh popcorn into the bowl.

“I brought salt and stuff too,” Braydon says, holding out his other hand.

“Sprinkle butter is the worst,” Alex complains.

“But it would get all soggy if we melted actual butter.” Oscar makes a face.

“Yeah, because the “butter” at the movie theater is more like oil with extra oil.” Andrej looks a little green.

“My stomach is queasy just thinking about it,” Slater says cheerfully, dropping back into his recently vacated spot.

And so they talk. Mostly about nothing, but also about some important things, like how the band originally formed. It isn’t a shock that the group was built around Slater, but it is sort of a surprise that Alex and Andrej were already together and auditioned with a duet.

“I was just brought in to write songs,” Braydon says before tossing a couple kernels into his mouth.

“That isn’t true,” Slater looks over at Braydon. He’s...annoyed? Oscar can’t tell what it is. “He had to try out like everyone else...and he can _sing_. He’s better than any of us."

They may only have the light of the fireplace, but Oscar can tell that Braydon is blushing.

“Why was I brought in if he is such a great singer?” Adam asks.

“I’m not hot and no one wants to see me at the front of the stage,” Braydon is definitely bitter, and if that’s really the case then Oscar doesn’t blame him.

“That isn’t true!” Slater objects. Braydon sighs, then starts counting the guys off on his fingers.

“Alex is an eight, Andrej is a seven point five, Oscar is a nine, probably, Adam is pushing nine point five, you are a ten and I’m a four.” Braydon drops his hands into his lap. “On a good day.”

“No, Braydon, yo-”

“Oh my god. Did we actually just bond over being snowed in?” Adam interrupts. Slater looks pissed but Braydon appears relieved to have escaped the conversation. “What sort of Hallmark movie bullshit is _that_?”

The group laughs, the tension broken.


	3. Happy Endings

Slater’s first thought when he wakes up on Christmas morning is ‘ _I don’t want to give this up_.’ He’s in Braydon’s arms again, and he’s so warm and comfortable and--

He looks up at Braydon through his bangs and is startled when he sees that Braydon is already watching him.

“Morning,” Braydon says quietly. He brushes Slater’s hair back from his face. Slater’s heart gives a leap, something that it hasn’t done in years. It’s so _nice_. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas,” Slater echos. Is this the time? He thinks maybe it is. “Braydon, about what you said last ni--”

“Don’t let it worry you, Slater. Really.” Braydon’s smile makes an appearance (has it always been so sad? Slater’s heart wilts.), “I made peace with all of that like three years ago.”

“But it isn’t true,” Slater shakes his head for emphasis.

“Okay, you’re right. The eyeliner might push me up to a four and a half.”

“That isn’t what I mea-”

Alex bursts into the room without knocking. “Santa came, you guys!”

Braydon moves away from Slater and sits up. His smile is still...strained? “Did he now?”

“And the snow melted, so we’re FREE!” Alex throws his arms up in celebration.

“You look like an idiot,” Slater calls after him when he turns to leave.

“I don’t care,” Alex tosses back over his shoulder. “Come get your presents!”

Braydon starts to climb out of the bed, so Slater quickly sits up and places a hand on his arm. He looks back over.

“Braydon--”

“We should go open presents,” Braydon pats Slater’s hand, and then he’s up and walking towards the door.

Slater sits there and watches him go, the happiness he woke with completely quashed. He leans back against the headboard and pouts. How on earth did he even get himself into this?

Braydon sticks his head back in. “Hey, you coming?”

“Yeah. Of course. Be there in a second.” Braydon flashes another (fake) smile before he heads back out.

Slater climbs out of the bed, grabbing Braydon’s jacket, slipping it on mindlessly.

~

Slater is sitting on the couch surrounded by wrapping paper and his friends. Adam and Oscar are cooking up breakfast, to make up for yesterday, they said, but that’s just an afterthought to Slater...because he can’t stop looking at the gift tag in his hand.

They’ve all gotten presents 'from Santa' every year since they’ve been a band. It’s always been something that each of them had spent time talking about wanting or needing. Well, except Braydon’s present, which was always just something like a pack of the notebooks that were his favorite for writing lyrics in...and he never talked about wanting things, so Slater had chalked it up to him being hard to shop for. He always thought that Gabe did it.

But the thing is, ‘Santa’ has the same handwriting as Braydon.

How has he never noticed before?

He’s a fucking idiot, that’s how. Jesus.

“Gabe doesn’t do this,” Slater blurts out.

“What?”Andrej looks confused.

“Of course he doesn’t, it’s Santa,” Braydon’s already picking up the wrapping paper.

“We’re a little old to believe in Santa, Braydon,” Alex is laughing even though he’s paying more attention to reading up on the new gaming system he received.

“Well, he obviously exists,” Braydon shrugs, grabs at the last of the paper.

“Braydon…”

“Uh, yeah?” Braydon glances over his shoulder and suddenly Slater has no idea what he should say.

The phone rings and Braydon holds up a finger while he picks up the receiver. Slater takes the moment to slip the tag into his pocket.

 

//

 

Spending lunch and dinner singing because they missed Christmas Eve isn’t Andrej’s idea of fun. But the lodge had called and pleaded, and they couldn’t think of a reason to say no, so they spent more of Christmas crooning Christmas Carols than originally planned.

Andrej snorts at himself while he folds the shirt in his hand and places it into his suitcase. Yeah, he doesn’t have to pack yet because they get tomorrow to do whatever and aren’t flying out until late in the evening, but he doesn’t really want to ski or build a snowman or any of that. He just wants to leave. Because, team bonding aside, this trip has sucked.

“Hey,” he looks up at Alex.

“Hey.” Andrej replies, looking back to his pile of clothes.

“Look, I--” Alex stops, so Andrej glances back up, halfway expecting to see him gone, but he’s apparently just waiting for full attention. “I’ve been a jerk.”

Andrej doesn’t even have a reply yet, he’s being so vague and Alex doesn’t get to get off so easy. He just sighs and sits down on the bed, indicating for Alex to go on.

“I didn’t know what I did, so I was being stubborn and refusing to apologize, but I realized last night when Braydon was talking about our ratings, or whatever.” Alex shoves the suitcase out of the way and sits down next to Andrej. “I said that Adam is hot and that made you feel like you aren’t.”

“Hrmph,” Andrej grunts and tries to look away.

Alex grabs his face and directs it back. “No one is hotter to me than you are, and I’m sorry that I made you feel otherwise.” Alex presses a kiss between Andrej’s eyes. “I love you, Drej.”

Jesus he is so easy. “I love you too,” Andrej leans and kisses Alex.

He can pack later.

 

//

 

“Again! Five-six-seven-eight!” Yanni claps off the beat, and they’re running through the choreography to 'Middle Of My Heart' for the tenth time. The good news is Yanni isn’t yelling at them anymore because Adam has finally gotten his two left feet under control.

The bad news is...there isn’t actually any bad news. They’re getting along, and they are gelling as a unit, and they’re a band.

They’ve done it.

“Alright, I think that is as good as you guys are going to get.” Yanni says after he stops barking numbers at them. “I did not think that you could do it, but you have.” He smiles at them and it’s all lopsided and cute, and he isn’t scary for the first time since Oscar met him. “Make me proud tomorrow on tv.”

They offer him assurances that they will while he packs up his stuff. He bids them adieu...no, seriously, that’s what he says, and he departs.

The others are milling around and getting ready to leave, but they can’t yet because he and Adam have something to say. Oscar elbows Adam.

“Ow.” He frowns at Oscar, who just gestures towards the rest of the group. “Fine, fine.” He clears his throat. “Hey, guys?”

The other four guys pause and look over at them, only Braydon speaks though. “Yeah?”

“We were wondering if we could, um.” Adam bites his lip. It’s his only nervous habit. Oscar doesn’t see it much, but he loves it.

But that doesn’t mean Oscar won’t rescue him. “We want to sell our bus and move into the main band bus.”

“Really?” Andrej asks. He looks happy at the thought - they all do, and Oscar’s glad that he and Adam decided to do this.

“Yeah, we’re one band. We should travel together.” Adam says.

“And we can use the money to upgrade our bus.” Oscar adds.

“That would be great!” Alex scrunches his nose. “Can we start with the bathroom?”

They all laugh together, which is something they do now. It’s really nice. Oscar loves it.

Loves this group.

 

//

 

“Hey, Slater?” Slater stops when Braydon places a hand on his shoulder. “Gabe wanted me to write a duet for the show, and-”

“For tomorrow?” Slater frowns. “I’m pretty good at memorizing, but I don’t know, Bray.”

Braydon sucks a quick breath in through his teeth and exhales slowly. “It isn’t new, really. I wrote it ages ago and you practiced it a bit, but you were lacking a duet partner before.”

“Are you telling me it’s 'Babe, I Love You So'?” Slater does a little happy dance in place. It’s his favorite song that they’ve never used before. Braydon huffs a small laugh.

“That’s the one,” Braydon answers, holding out a manila envelope. “Here, so you can brush up on the lyrics.”

“Thanks!” Slater grins up at him. “I’m so excited!”

“I thought you might be.” Braydon’s smile isn’t sad like it was back at the cabin, but it’s...Slater doesn’t know what it is.

It’s frustrating.

“Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Braydon says as he turns to head back to his things.

“Okay, um, bye.” Slater watches him for a couple of seconds before he’s gathering up his own things.

He really wants to get home and practice the song.

~

Slater is nothing short of furious when he stomps in through the stage door the following morning. He can’t believe that he spent the whole last week fretting over his feelings when Braydon wrote a song about him ages ago! And right under his nose! Slater is going to chew his ass out.

Or kiss him.

Or chew his ass out _and then_ kiss him.

He’s still working on his plan, okay? Both of those things are going to happen at some point, though.

Slater is just about to barge into the dressing room that’s marked as Braydon when the voices floating through the cracked door stop him in his tracks.

“...don, you can’t leave the group now because you love Slater and he doesn’t love you back,” Andrej sounds frustrated. “You’ve handled it all this time and now all of a sudden it’s too much?”

“I’m sure that Oscar can harmonize with you just was well as I can,” Braydon replies. Slater leans closer, trying to see into the room. A tiny sliver of Braydon’s face in the mirror is all that he can see.

“That isn’t…you aren’t just...” A small growl comes from Andrej. “You’re one of us, Braydon. We _need_ you.”

“I’m going to tell you what I told Slater, okay? You guys really only need me to write the songs, and I don’t have to be here for that.”

“And what did Slater say? When you told him that, I mean.”

“He told me that you would miss me.” Braydon leans forward, affording Slater a glimpse of his whole face for just a second, and he looks miserable.

“God dammit, Slater,” Andrej mutters. Slater wishes that he wasn’t here to witness this conversation, because he feels like a moron. “Braydon, just-”

“He’ll be here soon to help me with my _image_ ," Slater can hear the air quotes. "so you should probably head off and get yourself ready.” Braydon’s chair squeaks when he sits back in it.

Andrej sighs. “Okay, I’ll see you for pregame.”

Slater scurries around the closest corner while they say their goodbyes. He makes himself count to five hundred before heading for the door. He can’t arrive too soon after Andrej leaves. It would be suspicious.

“Hey, what’s with that face?” Braydon asks with a half grin after he opens the door. Shit. He looks suspicious.

“What’s with _your_ face?” he counters. Braydon laughs and ushers Slater in. Crisis averted.

Slater chews nervously on his bottom lip while Braydon settles into the chair. He’s in uncharted territory here and doesn’t know what he should say. Or do. Or-

“Here, I got a new eyeliner pencil,” Braydon holds it out. The smallest smile plays at his lips. “I know how much you hate it when they get too short.”

“I would miss you if you left the group,” Slater blurts out.

“Um.” Braydon lets the pencil drop into his lap.

“I would miss you. You can’t leave us.” Slater shakes his head, steps closer. “You can’t leave _me_.” Slater places a hand under Braydon’s jaw. “ _I_ need you.”

“Slater, I-”

“No, I mean it. I need you.” Slater starts to lean in and then there’s a banging on the door. They both jump.

“Ten minutes until pregame!” Gabe calls. “Hurry up!”

Slater grabs the eyeliner, starts drawing the familiar lines. “Don’t think that we aren’t finishing this later.”

“Okay.”

~

They meet for pregame, where Gabe gives them their notes about the performance and tells them to have a good show before he leaves them to warm-up their bodies and voices.

Slater pulls Adam aside a minute before they’re supposed to go on. He has a favor to ask.

~

“It’s almost midnight! Are you guys ready to hear one last song?!” Slater yells out to the crowd. They woo and cheer and clap even though most of them are really too drunk to actually care what he’s saying, but it’s been a good show and Slater is happy and that’s all that matters. “Okay, for this next song we’re going to slow it down a bit.”

Adam gets up, heading for the back of the stage and pulling a confused Braydon to the front. He sits Braydon in his recently vacated chair before retreating back to the one he’d pulled Braydon from.

“Braydon and I are going to sing a new song. It’s called, 'Babe, I Love You So'!”

“What are you doing?” Braydon hisses as the music starts.

“Singing a duet,” Slater grins at Braydon, not breaking eye contact when he sings the first couple of lines. He’s thinking that maybe this was a bad idea, that he misread all of this and Braydon is going to leave him singing a duet alone when Braydon finally joins in.

They sound _amazing_ together. Their voices blend perfectly, and he just...just...he wishes that he fought harder to get Braydon singing time all these years, because he’s known along that Braydon can sing, but holy shit.

The crowd is caught up in the song. The other guys are caught up in it. Hell, even Slater is caught up in it, but at least he has the excuse of looking into Braydon’s eyes while singing with him all about how much Braydon Loves Slater.

The song ends and the crowd is going wild. Slater lets the applause wash over him for a moment, and then he’s passing his microphone to Alex. Let him take care of the countdown, Slater needs to talk to Braydon.

“When did you arrange that?” Braydon asks. He's too far away for Slater's liking.

“Just before we went on. What’d you think?”

“You’re...something else,” Braydon smiles, steps closer, reaches for Slater’s hand. “What changed?”

“Ten...Nine…”

“Nothing changed, Braydon.”

“Eight...Seven…”

“Nothing?” Braydon raises his eyebrows.

“Six...Five…”

“I just finally realized how much I care about you.” He grins. "And you're pretty hot, so."

“Four...Three…”

“You care about me?” Braydon sounds unsure and that won’t do. Slater threads their fingers, pulls Braydon’s body against his own.

“Two…”

“Braydon, I love you.”

“One! Happy new year!”

Slater pulls Braydon into a kiss.

“Hey, wait a second,” Braydon pulls back. “You said that gingers can’t be hot.”

“You’re more of an auburn,” Slater replies with a smirk. Braydon laughs quietly; Slater wouldn’t have even known if they weren’t so close together.

“Hey, I love you too.”

“I know.”

“You can’t use ‘I know’ when you already said the words,” Braydon cups his face, pulls him close again.

“I can and I- mrph!”

Slater’s sass is cut off when Braydon pulls him into another kiss. It's okay, though, because kissing.

~

Gabe had been pissed about the change up at first, but his stance magically changed when people started clamoring to buy the single. So, a live version from the show was hurried into release, and it quickly shot up to number one So. Now his duet with Braydon is their first number one in...he’d rather not think about it, honestly, because it doesn’t matter how long it’s been, they have one now.

AABS has about a million new fans, maybe more, Slater hasn’t looked at the twitter account lately. He can hardly leave his house without seeing someone wearing some article of clothing with them plastered all over it.

Adam and Oscar blend in with them perfectly. They’re funny (especially Adam), and it’s just.

It’s nice.

Slater could really get used to this.

“Hey, what are you thinking about?”

Slater looks up and Braydon. “Oh, just about how great everything is.”

“Yeah?” Braydon tugs at Slater. Slater groans, he’s comfortable with his head on Braydon’s thigh but he lets himself be pulled up and is rewarded with a soft, lingering kiss.

“Oh, you two are making me sick,” Alex complains from the table he’s sitting at.

Slater pulls back just enough to say, “Like you’ve never made out in front of us for hours.”

“That’s different!”

“How?” Slater doesn’t wait for an answer, going back to kissing Braydon.

“Well, it’s- Hey!”

“Alex, did you guys know,” Andrej changes the subject, “that you and Slater are no longer the most popular fanfic pairing?”

“Really? Who is it now? Me and who?” Andrej laughs. “What?”

“It isn’t you at all. It’s Slater and Braydon.”

“Really?!” Slater stops kissing Braydon. He makes grabby hands at the tablet, which Andrej reluctantly hands over. “Oh, look at this, we are!”

Braydon hooks his chin over Slater’s shoulder, which is one of his favorite things, “So we are.”

Slater scrolls through the first page of stories. “Why do you think that so many of the stories are AUs where we play hockey?”

“I played hockey a little when I was younger,” Adam says, stepping onto the bus with Oscar in tow. “So did Oscar.”

“Of course you did. You’re Swedish,” Slater chuckles to himself before asking, “Were you guys any good?”

“I was alright, I liked singing better though.” Adam smiles over at Oscar. “Oscar was way better, but he came with me after I quit and now here we are.”

“Do you ever wish that you stayed with hockey?” Slater asks, smiling when Braydon pulls him close.

“Nah, I wouldn’t change any of it.” He pauses. “Except maybe the dancing.”

“Oh!” Slater is hit by sudden inspiration. “You can be the Hot One who can’t dance and I can the the Hot One who can!”

Everyone groans.

Slater grins as he snuggles in closer to Braydon. He wouldn't want it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made up song titles. I'm _almost_ sorry. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this!


End file.
